


Leave the pieces when you go

by muselives



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-03
Updated: 2009-08-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22292587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muselives/pseuds/muselives
Summary: Somewhere along the way, Jocelyn had fallen out of love with him.
Kudos: 1





	Leave the pieces when you go

**Author's Note:**

> [prompt] [Porn Battle VIII](http://oxoniensis.dreamwidth.org/10575.html)/[DETOX](http://bessemerprocess.dreamwidth.org/88888.html), Star Trek: Reboot, McCoy, desperation
> 
> [2020-01-17 author's note] Reposting for Yukito. No edits, still unbetaed.
> 
> [original 2009-08-03 author's note] lyrics from "Leave the Pieces" by The Wreckers (cut text: "Now you can drag out the heartache, baby, you can make it quick, really get it over with and just let me move on"). This is basically a McCoy family piece mashing the new alternate reality with some character names and concepts from the novel _Shadows on the Sun_ ; Leonard McCoy/Jocelyn McCoy, established relationship. Extended version of [this DETOX response](http://muselives.livejournal.com/191650.html?thread=464802#t464802). Spoilers for _Star Trek XI_. Unbetaed.

Somewhere along the way, Jocelyn had fallen out of love with him; he just hadn't realized it until now. He stood glued in the center of their bedroom as she began pulling clothes haphazard from the drawers. His throat felt so dry that he couldn't believe he had enough left in him to ask, "What about Jo?"

Her frame tensed for one inexplicable second before he realized that he might not just be losing his wife but his four year old daughter too. To his surprise, she barely turned her head over her shoulder and said quietly, "I don't know." She had packed nothing for her baby and it struck him that she must not have figured Joanna into her dramatic little flight. As if sensing both his realization and his judgement, she whispered, "I can't take her, Leonard. I don't know where I'm going."

"To Clay?" The question was too bitter to for him to soften. Jocelyn took it like a slap, flinching before she could turn to hide her reaction. She and Clay Treadwell had been cradle-promised to each other by their parents but she had chosen him. She'd chosen him at seventeen at the spring social for a dance and again at twenty-one when they'd exchanged vows. Somewhere into his fourth year of medical school, after they had their baby, she had gone back to Clay. He remembered knocking Clay to the floor over that dance; he didn't trust himself to go near the man now since he'd learned of Jocelyn's infidelity.

She shoved one of her fancies dresses into her suitcase. He couldn't help thinking it'd be wrinkled when she pulled it out; his wife was normally so thoughtful about things like that. Right now, her sky blue eyes were glassy with unshed tears and she put her fisted hands on her hips as she fired back, "What do you want me to say, Leonard? That it was--a mistake, and I'm sorry? That it won't happen again? I've been faithful to you for five years while you sink further and further into your medical texts and--I'm lonely. I miss you. It's hard to raise a daughter, worse when I feel like I'm doing it by myself. I can't do it any more. I won't."

"Don't do this," he managed although the plea was choked. He finally uprooted himself from his spot on the floor and moved over to the bed. Jocelyn had turned away from him but she didn't flinch or withdraw when he put his hand on her arm. "Jocelyn, please. We're still a family. We can still make this work."

"It's never going to change," she whispered, finally looking away from her suitcase into her husband's eyes. "You're going to always be a doctor first and my husband second. I know you love me--I know you love Joanna but--" She brought her hands up and put them on either side of her husband's face. The way her head drifted to one side and the undeniable tremble of her bottom lip made his heart ache. Blinking out a few tears, she finally admitted, "I don't love you like I used to. I can't be your wife."

He felt her slip out of his grasp before his eyes realized that she was moving and gone. It took him a moment to see her standing in the doorway, travel bag in one hand, the other resting inside the frame to steady herself or to say one final silent goodbye to their home, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that when she turned around and gave him that small smile through her tears that he should have begged her to stay.

But she spoke first, so softly that he almost missed it: "I won't fight you for Jo."

Pride got the best of him and let loose his infamous tongue. "I'm not letting you go."

She straightened at that, chin rising defiantly as her hand fell back to her side. "You can tie me to a chair or fight me in the court of law but I am walking out of here tonight and I'm not going to spend another five years watching our marriage fall apart. At least I can admit that things aren't working between us. You're the one who needs to acknowledge that you have a daughter and that she's growing up, fast. Who's going to take care of her if I can't? You? Are you going to give up your precious medicine for your baby girl?"

"Yes," he answered but it wasn't easy or instantaneous and his heart sank a little at his own hesitation. With more honesty and conviction, he amended, "I'll do whatever's best for Joanna. You know that."

She softened almost imperceptibly. "Leonard, we're not even thirty yet. We had her so young--" She bit her lip then let out a heavy sigh. "Call your sister. She can help with Jo while you finish classes." Wiping away her tears with her free hand, she even managed a little more of her smile. "She'll be proud to have a daddy who's a doctor, mark my words."

"Jocelyn, I'm not going to sign any damn papers--" he growled, starting towards her, the instinct to fight kicking in slowly and far too late. He only made it as far as the bedroom door before she was leaving the house and as far as the porch before her cab pulled away.

He was still staring at the empty air when he felt a little body collide with the backs of his legs and tiny, strong arms wrap around him, just below his kneecaps. He carefully disentangled his baby girl, smoothing back her curly brown hair, wiping away her silent tears before scooping her up into his arms. She didn't say a word, just threw her arms around his neck as he bounced her gently and sang an old lullaby his mother used to sing to him when he was young. When he laid her down for the night, his shoulder was stained from all her crying. He ran his hand up and down the drying fabric as he sat at her bedside, watching his sleeping daughter and wondering what on Earth would happen to them now.


End file.
